Mike Livak Talks The Difficulties Associated With Running A Large Management Team

Running a larger and larger management team provides enhanced difficulties that you probably don't necessarily expect going in. But there are a whole host of problems that come with the job, when you're truly one of the manager's managers.

Plus the most common problems and mistakes are what Mike Livak sees all too often. As the Vice President of Operations for Squaw Valley Ski Resort, he's very experienced when it comes to running a major resort. That's taught him plenty about what you need to do, when you get to the level of managing the managers.

Namely, finding people that are qualified for the job. You need to find people that you can trust, but also that you're comfortable with. You have to really trust your managers, so you need to know their weaknesses, and their strengths. Typically, when you're building a team you want to find strengths and weaknesses that compliment your own.

Meaning, finding people with different strengths than yours, so that they can help in problem areas that you may have difficulty working around. The same is true about bringing your own strengths forward to help the team benefit from your management.

But there's also the honesty part, and that's really important too. You need to find managers that won't be afraid to be totally honest with you. That means not blaming them for something that's out of control, though you do always want to be sure that they are held accountable when the team doesn't perform as well.

The same is true for you, when there's something you can't tell them, when there's a confidentiality issue, be honest. Don't sidestep, respect them enough to simply say that it's confidential information, and something that you can't disclose right now.

Being open and honest is one of the best ways to get people to respect you. But moreover, this is one of the chief ways to create trust within a team. Being able to trust and depend on one another is vital. That's how a company functions, and how a team remains productive.

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